May 16, 2016

Are you equal to this job?

The Campaign for Equal Civil Partnerships is recruiting a new part-time campaign manager. We would very much like to hear from you if you think you have the right skills and experience and a commitment to our cause. Please read on…..

Position: Part-time campaign manager for the Equal Civil Partnerships Campaign

Organisation: The Equal Civil Partnerships Campaign

Terms: Initial six-week period from June 2016 (possibly longer)

Location: Working from home or flexibly

Pay: £20 per hour for 20-hour week (on a days worked basis)= £400 per week

The campaign

Did you know that opposite-sex couples in the UK are not currently allowed to be in a civil partnership? The campaign for Equal Civil Partnerships was established a year ago to address this obvious inequality.

At its centre is the case of Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan, a London couple who are at the appeal stage in a judicial review challenge to the UK Government over the issue in the High Court. The next court hearing is expected this summer.

A highly effective part-time campaign manager, Ava Lee, has been leading this campaign for the last year, working to a steering group*. Ava now has a full time job elsewhere so we are looking for a suitable replacement to continue the process of:

• Influencing parliamentarians and ministers to secure a change in UK law
• Building public support for equal civil partnerships via social and print media
• Exploiting campaigning opportunities presented by the legal challenge

The job

We now have a grant from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust to continue our campaigning work inside and outside parliament. The priority in the next few months will be to lobby MPs, peers and ministers, seek opportunities to amend government legislation and deepen our work to build a parliamentary majority. The job might be suitable for someone who wants to work part-time and flexibly. The successful candidate will:

• Identify and engage influential decision makers, including MPs, civil servants, policy makers and members of civil society and seek opportunities for legislative change
• Build on existing relationships with influential journalists and forge new relationships to reach bigger audiences and broaden the campaign’s supporter base
• Research, write, distribute and monitor press releases, announcements and developments relevant to civil partnership and marriage equality
• Work closely with the steering group, though much of the work will be unsupervised
• Manage the website and social media including Facebook, Twitter as well as assist with copy for the 70,000 strong petition on Change.org
• Deal with calls, emails, admin, correspondence and media enquiries as well as organising steering group meetings, and taking minutes
• Update, engage and grow the supporter base, and create opportunities to amplify the campaign through targeted supporter actions
• Report back to JRRT on progress of the Equal Civil Partnerships campaign against agreed objectives and assist with future fund raising strategy

A series of achievable KPIs will be set to bring focus to the tasks.

 The person

• Should have empathy with the aims and aspirations of the Equal Civil Partnerships campaign
• Be self-motivated with proven ability to run social campaigns and related projects.
• Be motivated and able to effect change with limited resources and support
• Have some experience of most, or all, of the following; campaigning, not for profit organisations, the law, politics, parliament, current affairs and human rights

This is an ideal opportunity for a committed and energetic person to make a mark in the world of politics, law and campaigning and help change British law.

Apply in confidence by 31 May 2016 to equalcivilpartnerships@gmail.com, enclosing a brief CV and stating in 250 words examples of activity you would organise to help encourage MPs to support our campaign.

*STEERING GROUP MEMBERSHIP

• Charles Keidan, Acting Editor, Alliance Philanthropy magazine
• Martin Loat, CEO, Propeller PR
• Fiona Millar, Education Campaigner and Journalist
• Gemma Mortensen, Chief Global Officer of Change.org
• Elsie Owusu, Architect
• Dr Rebecca Steinfeld, Political Scientist and BBC New Generation Thinker
• Peter Tatchell, Human Rights Campaigner
• Professor Robert Wintemute, Professor of Human Rights Law, King’s College London